‘Sardine row’: Junior on comment that enraged Bahia fans at Flamengo

In partnership with

Coluna do Fla

·23 de abril de 2026

‘Sardine row’: Junior on comment that enraged Bahia fans at Flamengo

Flamengo idol’s comment irritated Bahia fans on Sunday (19)

The main topic in football conversations in Salvador is still Maestro Junior’s comment during the broadcast of Flamengo’s 2–0 win over Bahia on Sunday (19). At the end of the match, the rubro-negro idol said he wanted to eat a “sardine” after the game. However, the animal is a nickname Vitória fans use for their rival. So, the former full-back spoke out on the matter.

— I didn’t even know that this pejorative term, sardine, existed for Bahia. I had no idea at all, none whatsoever. I never imagined such a thing. We were on the broadcast and (commentator Gustavo) Villani was saying he was going to pay for an expensive dish, something like that, and I mentioned sardines, also because my grandmother taught us from when we were kids that sardines were good and all that… — the Maestro began.

OneFootball Videos

— I had absolutely no idea that this could cause all this uproar among Bahia fans. I’ve never done anything like that even with rivals here in Rio, because there was no reason at all to make any joke, any dig, any mockery about Bahia —, he added, in contact with commentator Thiago Mastroianni.

WHAT WAS THE CONTEXT?

During the match between Flamengo and Bahia, both teams started making substitutions in the final stretch of the game. Then commentator Gustavo Villani asked Junior what the changes would be. The Maestro got them all right, which amused the broadcast team.

So, after Junior’s perfect score, Villani suggested that the Maestro pay for dinner after the match, and the rubro-negro legend said he wanted fried sardines. The innocent comment from the Flamengo idol was interpreted as a taunt and left part of Bahia’s fanbase furious on social media.

WHY IS BAHIA CALLED SARDINE?

Vitória fans’ “banter” with Bahia began in 2011. At the time, former Flamengo coach Joel Santana was unemployed and was being linked with the tricolor team. In an interview on SporTV’s ‘Bem, Amigos’, the coach was asked whether there was a chance he would take over the team, and his answer was: “I’m waiting for a big fish; sardine, no.” Since then, the Northeastern rubro-negros have teased their rival with that term.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇧🇷 here.